Leahy: Egyptian Aid Pipeline Will Shut Down

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Wednesday said under present circumstances, Congress will have no choice but to halt future aid to Egypt, because there is no one of any credibility to receive military and economic financial support.

In an MSNBC interview, Leahy – chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations – said the aid pipeline will be cut off when Congress considers a new foreign aid bill in the coming weeks or months, if Egypt’s tenuous situation does not improve.

Egypt is the fourth largest recipient of U.S. aid after Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Israel.

”We have a lot of aid in the pipeline now. That pipeline would be turned off,” Leahy told MSNBC host Cenk Uygur. “There is nobody, Republican or Democratic, in the Senate or in the House, that’s going to vote for an aid package for Egypt under these circumstances.

“Aid will continue to Egypt if you have somebody who comes in with credibility, who is trying to help the people, trying to help those who are unemployed, those who are not being fed,” he said.

Leahy, who has called for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to immediately resign, was asked when the aid would end.

“The money that’s in the pipeline right now is controlled by the administration,” he said. “Congress will be facing in a matter of weeks or months a new foreign aid bill, but there is no way, unless credibility has been restored in Egypt, and it will not be credibility with President Mubarak.”

“There’s no way further aid will go,” Leahy added. “So you’re really talking about a relatively short time.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Wednesday said under present circumstances, Congress will have no choice but to halt future aid to Egypt, because there is no one of any credibility to receive military and economic financial support.In an MSNBC interview, Leahy chairman of the...